Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team places focus on steady improvement

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler has taken a different approach to his fourth season, which officially begins with the Redhawks' first game Friday.

He hasn't discussed goals with his players, and doesn't plan to at this point in the season, but the unspoken accomplishment the Redhawks are striving for is to secure a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

"The only thing I've really talked about with this basketball team, and we're going to continue this definitely in the non-conference season, is getting better every single day and having a competitive edge every single practice, every single game," Margenthaler said last Monday. "Really being competitive and just taking care of the small things. If we can just do that, at the end of the 40 minutes we should come out on top."

Southeast posted a 10-19 record last season, and failed to make the conference tournament for the fifth consecutive year.

The Redhawks' 6-10 conference record was the program's most OVC wins since 2008, but they tied for ninth in the standings.

This year's goal doesn't need to be written down or talked about among his team, but Margenthaler, who was suspended for two games last week due to self-reported NCAA violations by the program and will not coach the team's opener against Alabama A&M on Friday, knows the next step for his program is to finish in the top eight of the 12-team league and compete in the OVC tournament in Nashville.

"There's no question it's very, very important," Margenthaler said. "We have to take that step, and you know me, I'm not going to shy away from it. It's something this program has got to do, and I really feel we have the capability of doing that this year.

"And I really do think that from 1 to 12 our league is really wide open. I think there's going to be a lot of teams that are going to be fighting for who's going to be in that top echelon and who's going to kind of be in the bottom. It's going to come down to little things and execution, but I really do believe we have the experience at the major key positions -- that's that one-, two- and three-guard positions. We have all juniors and seniors at those positions. In my opinion, I think if we continue to do the right things, we should be able to get there."

Southeast returns seniors Allyson Bradshaw, a Notre Dame graduate, and Yelena Rosada, and junior Olivia Hackmann to the guard positions as well as senior transfer Jasmine Robinson, who sat out last season due to NCAA rules after transferring from Alabama.

Hackmann and Bradshaw were the team's second- and third-leading scorers last season, averaging 9.7 and 8.6 points per game, respectively.

Senior forward Hillary Lively, junior forward and Jackson graduate Connor King and sophomore guard Brianna Mitchell also return.

"Just definitely leadership has been the biggest thing, and then on the court you can just tell they're just another year more experienced. They're stronger. They're definitely a little bit more confident," Margenthaler said. "I think for the first time they feel like this is their team. And I wish it wouldn't be this way, but all seniors kind of feel that urgency, knowing that this is their last go-around and they want it to be something special. I definitely feel that within them. Then I've been doing a lot of talking to them about this: Our season is really going to depend on how consistent those guys are."

Margenthaler made the team's leadership and chemistry a point of emphasis during the offseason and noted the team members planning their own outings off-court together this fall was a difference that he's been pleased to see.

"That wasn't happening in the previous years," Margenthaler said. "The small steps, the culture's definitely getting there, which is exciting. I think definitely that's on the way, and now hopefully the wins will start coming as well."